⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5 stars
A Forgery of Roses is a book with Myra, an artist with a dangerous talent. When she is employed to help bring someone back to live, she goes to Rose Manor, in the hope to solve the mystery of what happened to Will.

A Forgery of Roses has been on my radar for some time. After reading Sing Me Forgotten I became a fan of Jessica’s writing style and the synopsis for this book had me curious immediately.
The book begins of very, very strong! You immediately get a feel for Myra, her situation and those around her. The pages turn very easily and before I noticed it, I had already read the scheduled chapters for that day. I had a hard time keeping to this schedule because I just wanted to keep on reading! The writing style, fun and easy to follow along, and the pacing really made it so.

The world-building and magic system in this book were really interesting. The world wasn’t as big as it could’ve been, but the town, “religion” and mind frame from the citizens were clearly sketches in the beginning of the book. The sense of foreboding whenever Myra used her powers in fear of discovery was a good example of the world so clearly created. Also, the magic itself was super unique and not something I’ve seen before. It sounds like an amazing way to have magic as Myra has!

Myra is such an inspiring character to read about! She and her sister have faces many hardships even before the start of this book, but still she does everything for those she cares for and it is very inspiring to read about. The lengths she’ll go for her sister. There is a particularly passage in chapter 23 where she talks passionately about Lucy being the powerful one is a perfect example of Myra’s character

“Take Lucy as an example. Yes, she has an illness, and fools may claim that makes her weak, yet she is the furthest thing from weak I’ve ever known.” ... “As far as I am concerned, I may be the one with magic, but she’s the truly powerful one. Because she’s fought where I have never had to.”

Also how she tries to help August with his anxiety and how she supports him every step of the way and learns him he is not lesser of weaker for having that. I think these representations are beautifully portrayed in this book and I really give high marks to Jessica for doing that so well. Especially now, when it isn’t really a taboo to talk about things you struggle with, seeing these traits portrayed in a healthy way and in a way where you can see these traits be accepted is really important. Overcoming and accepting them is really important, as shown in this book.

The romance in this book hasn’t been very advances, but I love how the real focus hasn’t been on the romance as it would take away from the more important points and power of the story told. I did love how the feelings steadily grew for each other in a natural way, even though they hadn’t known each other for very long haha.

Overall, I really loved this book. It was a very easy and fun read which combined my two favourite genres; fantasy and a murder mystery!